The Effect of Social Media Use On Competency and Task Performance Among Faculty in Kenya Private Universities

Abstract

Universities are depending on faculty's job performance for their competitiveness and growth. There are, however, rising concerns in Kenya about the job performance of faculty members in its universities. Given the popularity of social media in universities, with faculty engaging in social media for teaching, research and service, the issue of its contribution to faculty job performance and the potential to use it to enhance job performance have assumed special importance. Yet, there is a gap in our knowledge regarding both the patterns and intensity of social media use in Kenyan universities and its impact on performance. This study aims to fill, in part, this gap by investigating the influence of social media use on job performance and intrinsic motivation, specifically focusing on task performance and competence- an intrinsic motivation measure. A research model was proposed and data was collected from 388 faculty members from Kenyan Private universities using online questionnaires. Results revealed that social media use positively affected both task performance and competence. In addition, social media use also influenced task performance through the mediation of competence.